MANY VOICES SPEAK THE RIVER

Your “ASSAULT” begins…into the Helicopter for a 007 rollercoaster ride…Now hold tight for the…jet—high speed thrills past the gold mining relics, missing rock walls by centimetres…Take your heart in your mouth and leap for your life— 229 ft Bungy—each foot recorded on video to prove you’ve done it!…Now hold on for action packed white water thrills and spills.

Kawarau Raft Expeditions promotional brochure

 

 

We have a fiction that we live by: it is the river

that steps down, always down, from the pale lake

to the open jaws of land where the sea sucks the river on, absorbs it, where river ceases as river,

joins the past of rivers.

Lines from Waikato-Taniwha-Rau, a poem by Vincent O’Sullivan (cited in Temple, 1998).

 

 

 

river

glacial silt bluer than possible

translucent rush over grey green brown

worn-round river stones

 

little journey along

little stretch of big river,

but this body knows

the river—will know—this river

before it drifts away

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think of so and so, a person of many parts, who is drawn to water

and finds rivers speak to him in languages he lives to translate

over and over. Their syllables roll like stones, consonants catch

and tip like slivers of rock flickering in the deeps.

Lines from Listening to the River, a poem by Brian Turner (cited in Temple, 1998)

Shoulder my way through Queenstown streets

designer clothes

trekker sandals

eyes behind black-mirror wrap-around sunglasses

jostling in the current.

Amber lit souvenir shops spilling toys

onto a footpath of cemented-in-place

once-were river stones,

they will not rub each other rounder

jostling in the current.

Two adventure company window posters

THRILL THERAPY!

TAKE THE THRILLOGY!

Responsibility. White-water rafting involves risk and requires a degree of physical fitness. We reserve the right to screen passengers for safety. Strict safety procedures are always observed.

Rangitata Rafts promotional brochure.

 

 

“we can further individuals’ learning and development by establishing environments characterized by a state of dynamic tension … [which] is composed of two conditions: (1) a sense of safety and security, and (2) a sense of disequilibrium”

(Luckner and Nadler 1997, 19).

 

The group launches from the sandy beach. The kayaks, dramatically short in design and scooped fore and aft— for 3-dimensional paddling tricks (cartwheel, tailstand, spin, and loop…as much underwater as on-the-water). The kayaks are plastic moulded RPMs (Rapid Play Machine? Revolutions Per Minute?), and Foreplays (erotic river play thing?).

Meet your friendly and very highly experienced, professional river guides, who will run through a comprehensive safety and paddle technique briefings. Listen carefully.

Queenstown Rafting promotional brochure.

 

“All colonisation…is simply the natural process of niche expansion, a successful invader establishing a foothold in a new space’

(Park 1995, 243).

 

Designer walls of

wire-mesh-caged in river stones,

clever architect Listen carefully

…over peaceful waters at first, we head toward the exhilarating rapids … Rock Garden, Sharks Fin, Toilet, Pinball, Jaws

Queenstown Rafting promotional brochure.

 

Glide with the water flowing beneath you, let the wind blow through your hair and the sun shine on your face. Feel Alive. Find the adventurer in your soul and have a blast!

Classic Thrills promotional brochure.

 

A soft adventure amidst a World Heritage Area…Paddle downstream, amidst glaciers, rocky peaks and dense rainforests…Explore the Rock Burn Chasm (accessible only by canoe) and enjoy a superb picnic lunch. Funyaks promotional brochure

 

 

“One of the cornerstones…is that we encourage people to try things that they wouldn’t generally do on their own. In other words, they leave their safe, familiar, comfortable and predictable world for uncomfortable new territory. Like the pioneers and explorers who travelled to the “Old West” in search of fortune we hope that the learning adventures of participants also will lead then to ‘gold’” (Luckner and Nadler 1997, 28).

Listen carefully,

to the niche expansion.

 

  • unique social and physical setting
  • skills for life-long participation
  • link attitude and value formation with behavioural change
  • a personally and socially acceptable medium for personal testing
  • reconstructing feelings, experiences, and problems faced by our ancestors
  • gain a more intimate view of one’s strengths, weaknesses and character
  • multi-dimensional learning opportunities
  • experience excitement in a controlled atmosphere (Ewert 1989, 55).

 

 

HYDRO WORKS

And the hills stand in submission

And the dumb, disciplined waters,

Far harder than driven stone or defiant rock

The hard core of the purpose and will of man.

Lines from poem by J.R. Hervey (cited in Temple, 1998).

 

The leader, wrapped in jacket, spray deck, helmet— wears his RPM— arms and paddle blades windmilling— makes his way onto a fast jet of frothing wave— facing upstream— river surging beneath the hull, kayak motionless against the backdrop of carved away river rock wall— locked in concentration, smooth, confident. Followers wait their turn, watch, admire— silent. Trying to emulate, the river is suddenly too fast, too rough, too strong. They capsize one after another— but each rolls up in the downstream water.

“Nice roll!” calls the leader.

Living History

for more than a thousand years

droplets, rustles, bird calls,

intricate forest detail woven in complete harmony.

These delicate perfections were a long way from his world of increasing noise and vastness.

“I’ll have to release the trout the moment I catch it.

Tourism Southland promotional brochure.

 

The river guide walks into the evening light on the north bank— rod in hand. The team are cooking their dinner, laughing and talking, up in the long grass of the campsite, after another day on the river. I can see where the guide waits now—watching the fish path its course, mapping the economy of its small pool. The guide’s body stills—only his eyes move for 40 minutes as he moves inside the fish, the river, the overhanging willows—their leaves bulbous with hatching willow grubs. Then he stands. A cast, a cast… the rod tip leans over as the fish and guide begin their struggle.

Above the shoreline—plantation timber The fish—a trout —an introduced species

The river flow— hydro dam controlled—a rainy afternoon in Dunedin (200 kilometres away) and the river rises a metre in an hour…more water needed through the upstream turbines.

 

“Reading the landscape—like using a tiny net in a big river—you can catch only some of the infinite detail. The rest is washed away beyond memory and possession. Unequivocal facts are elusive. As…[the] Inlet becomes a place where respect for nature means withdrawal, it becomes a place of contested values. It attracts my senses with its primeval, land-before-people meeting of forest and water—yet amiably unhidden, as though last century was yesterday, is the abundant sign of its human history” (Park 1995, 232).